She is a Brazilian and passionate about civil engineering and the search for new materials for construction. Her research interest started during her bachelor of Civil Engineering when she was part of a research group as an intern and later on in her graduation thesis.
After her enthusiasm for research had been initiated, she continued with a master in Structural Engineering, and after that, she concluded a PhD developed part in Brazil and Germany in the same area. She worked for seven years at a research university in Brazil. She’s grateful for the opportunities to work on a variety of topics such as bamboo structures, recycled concrete and membrane structures.
Marianna worked on research projects testing materials in the laboratory and also calculating and simulating numerically. This combination can accelerate the understanding and behaviour of construction materials.
The change to HZ came from a desire to work closer to companies and industries. Unfortunately, some research she had developed in Brazil didn't reach the industry and the final consumer. Conducting research at a university of applied sciences allows her to work together with companies on research projects and to develop final products. Currently, her goal is to reduce the amount of cement used in concrete and search for alternatives to concrete. Also, the use of natural fibres as a substitution for gravel and sand and as reinforcement for construction materials.